I could feel the energy 700 miles away in my Texas home. With enough people to become the 3rd largest city in NE on gameday, Memorial stadium was lit up, there was a Sea of Red and the hearts of 80,000 plus fans were anxious for both the Football Season to begin and to find out who will start at Quarterback?

Taylor Martinez…The Starting quarterback was Martinez and boy did he put on a show. He reached top speed so fast I had to rewind a few plays to see what was going on. Martinez debut looked pretty good and if he only gets better than that is good news for the Huskers.

Martinez ran for 127 yards and three touchdowns and passed for 136 yards, leading the Huskers to a 49-10 victory over the Hilltoppers…not too bad for a Redshirt Freshman. We also saw solid play from Cody Green who hit Niles Paul for six, and even Zac Lee got to put his hands on the ball giving Austin Jones a chance to score in the 4th quarter. Both Helu and Burkhead looked good and added one score each. The Offense ended up with 536 total yards with 289 of it rushing.

A friend of mine (A&M fan) caught the last part of the game with me and asked how the Huskers were doing. I mentioned the Offense was doing good but the Defense seemed to shut down in the 2nd half. He mentioned that even a 49-10 score was not good enough for us Husker fans…lol, he is right. We want execution and intensity, we want four complete quarters, we want everything to be perfect even without Suh!

The Hilltoppers had 299 yards of offense which mostly came in the second half when the Blackshirts were, well I am not sure what they were doing. First year Head Coach Willie Taggert should feel good that his program racked up 10 points against what is supposed to be one of the best Defenses in the Nation. Bobby Rainey racked up 155 yards rushing and 36 yards receiving to give the Hilltoppers most of their total offense.

The Defense…When one player (Bobby Rainey) from a defeated team has their way with you, I would say the Defense struggled a bit, or maybe WK figured out where the holes were? The two missing starters at Middle Linebacker may have added to the mess, but that’s a little ridiculous. Bo says the Defense was an embarrassment. That may be a little harsh, I did see Crick put that quarterback on the ground, but there is major room for improvement.

All-in-all, it was a great game and an exciting weekend of College Football. This is the best time of the year! The Huskers play Idaho next week and then travel to Washington, so let’s hope Bo gets the Defense straightened out and fine-tune the Offense. Conference play is a few weeks away and this being the last year in the Big 12 we are having high expectations for the Huskers.